NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Lee’s health care task force is hoping to introduce legislation to improve telemedicine throughout Tennessee in time for the 2020 legislation session.
Fiance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, chairman of the governor’s panel, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he hopes to have several ideas ready to pitch to the GOP-controlled Statehouse, but first the panel must formally meet.
“This next session there’s going to be some legislation we need to be prepared to engage in and discuss,” McWhorter said. “But just as important, we want to be looking at what does this (task force) look like over the next hopefully seven years, definitely the next three years, and really start to build a strategy around the short term goals, the midterm and long term.”
Lee, a Republican, announced during his annual State of the State address that he would create a task force to help improve health care access and costs. The move comes as Tennessee’s health care system has been under scrutiny amid a string of rural hospital closures, an ongoing opioid crisis and many people lacking health insurance.
Lee’s panel has not yet officially been organized since it was announced in January, but plans are in place to begin meeting this fall.